


Unfathomable Cruelty

by scuttlingclaws



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: ;~;7, F/M, also not super graphic re: violence but i figure better safe than sorry, and my little garbage brain can only write angst so, for real though i love this pair so much, i know marlowe isn't a major character but he is TO ME, i love hurting myself(:
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 18:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30008922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scuttlingclaws/pseuds/scuttlingclaws
Summary: Hitch didn't have a selfless bone in her body, but that was all Marlowe had in him. A novelization of Marlowe's final moments.
Relationships: Hitch Dreyse/Marlo Sand | Marlowe Freudenberg
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	Unfathomable Cruelty

**Author's Note:**

> shipping in Attack on Titan causes me nothing but pain :)

So this was it, wasn’t it? Marlowe readied his horse for the Scouting Regiment’s final charge against the Beast Titan, doing everything he could to still his trembling body so the other recruits couldn’t see his fear. Someone needed to be strong, someone besides Commander Erwin who spoke with such confidence and conviction he inspired even the most cowardly soldiers to join him in the death march rather than turning tail. He knew Erwin’s soldiers raged, screamed, and fought against the cruelty of this world and he wondered if he was truly cut out for this. Perhaps Hitch was right, he could imagine her gloating and bragging that, in the end, she was the one who was correct. Despite all of her protests, there was nothing anyone, let alone Hitch, could have told him to prepare him for the carnage he saw today. The air around him was tinged red with the haze of blood from the comrades who were hit by boulders in midair, protecting both the horses and the urgent recruits. He thought he could feel a thin layer of the soldiers’ remains coat his lungs, but it was hard to tell the difference between what was real and what his terror filled mind was conjuring up.

But there was nothing he could do now but follow the instructions of the Scouting Regiment’s final operation. The recruits rode out towards the greatest threat facing humanity, crying out in an attempt to find the last, lingering bits of courage within them.

All Marlowe could do was resign himself to his fate as he watched the Beast Titan ready its arm, preparing to throw the boulders at the approaching scouts. He swallowed thickly. This was it. It really was. He breathed heavily out of his nose, fingers curling around his flare gun. He was going to die here. They all would. Who even knew if Captain Levi could get to the monster that lay ahead of them? Was this even worth it? Should he have been the coward to run away when Erwin himself said desertion was meaningless? No, he couldn’t think like that. He had to believe that his death, all of their deaths, would bring humanity even one step closer to victory. Though, he wasn’t quite sure exactly what ‘victory’ meant anymore.

“Fire!”

Erwin’s command snapped him out of his thoughts as he raised the flare gun, aiming it directly at the Beast Titan. He took a deep breath, grit his teeth, and pulled the trigger.

What was Hitch up to, he wondered. She must be curled up in bed, sunlight streaming in through her half-closed window shades and illuminating the thin line of drool coming from her lips and making loose strands of her hair shine like the glint of gold on a fine piece of jewelry. She loved sleeping in more than anything, and he doubted that today would be an exception. Some small part of him hoped that she was having a pleasant dream.

Why? Why would he think of her at a time like this? As he could do nothing more than watch in terrified horror as the rocks the Beast Titan threw approached him at speeds he couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Soon enough one would be crashing right into him and the other urgent recruits. In this, the final moment of his life, all he could think about Hitch. Selfish, annoying, beautiful Hitch.

Perhaps if Marlowe weren’t precariously perched at the end of this mortal coil he might’ve laughed; he could barely comprehend the unfathomable cruelty of this world - that he would realize his feelings for Hitch as he rode towards his death, coming closer and closer as the boulders descended upon him.

He would never get the chance to tell Hitch he lo-

-x-

 _I’m sure in the end he regretted being there_.

Those words rattled around in Hitch’s head ever since she left the funeral for the fallen scouts after their return from the mission to retake Shiganshina. The brass, ultimately, concluded it to be a victory, but how could they? She couldn’t imagine how losing all but nine members of the Scouting Regiment - not even Commander Erwin survived - could count as a victory, but it wasn’t her decision. Those poor, poor urgent recruits. They all must have thought they were doing their part for humanity, but in the end they were nothing more than cannon fodder for a regiment that never cared about them. And among them…

Hitch couldn’t imagine the horror, the fear, the pure unadulterated terror of not only going to titan territory, but to ride towards those monsters, knowing there was no other possible outcome than the deaths of both themselves and their comrades. Poor Marlowe. Poor, stupid Marlowe. Hitch begged him not to go, not to be a fool or to think himself a hero for signing himself up to die...and for what? If you’re dead you can’t reap the benefits of your heroics. He would never grow to realize his dream of fixing the Military Police from the inside, never get the chance to appreciate the medals they decorated the mass grave with. Only Commander Erwin was considered important enough to have a headstone all to himself.

Hitch sat at her desk, leaning her cheek on her hand as she gazed out the window - the same way she did while Marlowe was fighting the good fight armed with nothing but a flare gun and pants-wetting terror. She sighed. Why didn’t he listen to her? Of course she couldn’t even begin to imagine the sights the recruits saw and the decisions Commander Erwin was forced to make, but surely Marlowe knew, deep down, that she was right. It would, in the end, be a foolish decision to leave the comfortable confines of Stohess to certain death; and yet he did it anyways. The idiot. Normally Hitch would have gloated, held the fact that she was right and he, for once, was wrong over his head but all she could muster was a hollow laugh. What was the point of being right if he wasn’t there to see?

There was nothing more she could do. Marlowe was gone. Dead and gone forever. Who would fix the Military Police? Who _could_? He was the only one with the moral compass and mental fortitude to take on the job. Hitch was only there, like most of the other recruits, for a safe, comfy, easy ride through life. But Marlowe was a good person. Unlike her, unlike Boris, unlike Annie. If there was one person on this earth who deserved to live it was _him_. Hitch didn’t have a selfless bone in her body; she didn’t even mourn for the world’s loss of a wonderful man. No, she mourned for herself and her own selfish reasons.

She would never get the chance to tell Marlowe she loved him.

**Author's Note:**

> you can peep me on twidder dot com @dsfedefender talking non-stop about Fire Emblem & Attack on Titan


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